Monday, November 16, 2015

Sober Not Somber

1. False Start

Blondie, my
teenage daughter, was sitting next to me on the couch, doing homework. I was writing my fifth or sixth opening
sentence of a new daily messages blog. I
typed, muttered ‘another false start’ under my breath, and jabbed the backspace
key.

“Whatcha
doing, Daddy?” she asked. I explained I
was trying to start a new blog, but I couldn’t come up with an opening sentence
I liked.

“My track
coach says false starts show you’re eager to race. Gotta false start now and then, or you’re not
trying. You never win sitting on your heels in the starting blocks. Better to
false start than to start too late.”